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Northeastern Nigeria: Results of the 2017 rainy season programme

Countries
Nigeria
Sources
FAO
Publication date
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Since 2013, the Boko Haram insurgency in northeastern Nigeria has caused a significant humanitarian crisis resulting in massive socio-economic and human losses. A total of 1.9 million people fled their homes losing their livelihoods, and 75 percent of them are currently with host communities, putting an additional burden on already vulnerable households.

The Cadre Harmonisé analysis (March 2017) estimated that over 5 million people in the three most affected States – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe – were facing severe food insecurity (Phases 3-5) during the peak of the lean season (June–July). The insurgency has disrupted agricultural activities and access to food supplies, markets and basic social services, worsening an already dire food security situation. A large number of households rely on cash transfers and food assistance for their food consumption, and with very limited assets and employment opportunities, crisis-affected populations have adopted negative coping mechanisms to deal with rising hunger while struggling to meet their basic needs. Furthermore, women and youths have been particularly affected by the crisis given their exposure to radicalization and increased risk to sexual abuse and exploitation.

Following the slight improvement of the security situation and increased government control over certain areas, over 1.2 million people have returned to their areas of origin and are trying to rebuild their lives and livelihoods with little or no support. However, the lack of agricultural inputs was identified as a major constraint for many farmers, putting them at risk of having to rely on humanitarian aid to meet their food needs.

In an effort to harmonize and enhance the impact of commitments made by various resource partners – the Governments of Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Switzerland, as well as the Central Emergency Response Fund, the Directorate-General for the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) developed a programmatic response aimed at restoring the agricultural livelihoods of internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees and host communities with access to land in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States through the provision of quality agricultural inputs.

FAO carried out (i) a baseline assessment (May 2017), (ii) a post-distribution monitoring survey (August 2017) and (iii) a post-harvest assessment (October 2017) to evaluate the level of satisfaction of FAO interventions and the impact of the rainy season programme on food-insecure households.